Covid Origins: The Lab-Leak Theory Was a Victim of Left-Wing Culture Wars

The Wall Street Journal revealed on Sunday that the U.S. Department of Energy has joined the FBI in concluding that the virus that exploded out of China in early 2020, inaugurating the worst global public-health crisis in a century and taking millions of lives with it, “most likely” originated in a Chinese virology lab. Other investigatory bodies looking into the virus’s origins don’t yet all agree, and the Energy Department added the caveat that it had “low confidence” in its own assessment. But “low confidence” is more than no confidence. Even this modest dispensation represents an indictment of the expert classes, who wielded all the social pressure at their disposal to cajole the nation into dismissing the lab-leak theory early and with prejudice.

Those who lent credence to the theory and were subjected to the dominant culture’s bottomless capacity for condescension as a result will be tempted to take a victory lap. And, you know what? They should! The story of the theory’s rise, fall, and rise again is a story of how too many abused their positions of authority to wage a conflict over cultural values under the guise of dispassionate empiricism. Anathematizing the lab-leak hypothesis was just the latest avenue through which they could impeach political actors they didn’t like.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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The Wall Street Journal revealed on Sunday that the U.S. Department of Energy has joined the FBI in concluding that the virus that exploded out of China in early 2020, inaugurating the worst global public-health crisis in a century and taking millions of lives with it, “most likely” originated in a Chinese virology lab. Other investigatory bodies looking into the virus’s origins don’t yet all agree, and the Energy Department added the caveat that it had “low confidence” in its own assessment. But “low confidence” is more than no confidence. Even this modest dispensation represents an indictment of the expert classes, who wielded all the social pressure at their disposal to cajole the nation into dismissing the lab-leak theory early and with prejudice.

Those who lent credence to the theory and were subjected to the dominant culture’s bottomless capacity for condescension as a result will be tempted to take a victory lap. And, you know what? They should! The story of the theory’s rise, fall, and rise again is a story of how too many abused their positions of authority to wage a conflict over cultural values under the guise of dispassionate empiricism. Anathematizing the lab-leak hypothesis was just the latest avenue through which they could impeach political actors they didn’t like.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.